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Friday, November 28, 2008

When I posted the last two essays, parts one and two ‘an elementary primer’, I had a reason. I’ve had some serious pressures come down on me at times and overwhelm me so that I was unable to maintain my balance and direction. I liken it to being caught in one of those ocean formations where there are waves crossing in various directions which create a cauldron effect so that you are tossed in unpredictable directions and can’t get out. You find things like this among certain rock coves and other locations where incoming waves interact with varying shore depths and then interface with the rocks.

When this happens, I have found that there was something I could do that would draw to me the focus and strength that I needed to get above the conditions. I gave an example of that in both chapters and it was the same example. After a few days of practicing this I was able to meditate again and free myself from certain negative influences that I grabbed at or permitted in order to counteract the discomfort of what I was going through. The alternative is to let it play out and that can involve a lot of time and unpleasantness before the condition changes on its own.

I know there are people who read here, who find themselves in extremis at times and who may suffer more than they let on, given the state of the world at the moment. The scenario that I presented is a way of talking to the inner you while engaged in a ritual with the outer. It’s about talking to your subconscious and implanting positive seeds. It’s about communicating with the higher self/guardian angel and invoking an intuitional flow or a provocation of the subconscious by channeling ‘the’ above, through the conscious self to ‘the below’. It’s a practical application and it works.

The reason I am bringing this up is that I had a strange and unfortunate experience this week with an individual who represents a website that has reprinted my work for; I don’t know how long... a year or more, I think. In all that time there was never anything negative in the exchanges. In fact, it seemed as if the support was unconditional. Imagine my surprise when this individual confronted me over these two postings in a way that I would say was... well, you decide. I’m going to reprint some things that he said to me in emails. I will leave out any indentifying markers of any kind and since I would never name this person or the location where he works, I believe this is perfectly acceptable.

This was the preliminary offering-

“Dear Les,

I read your latest Visible Origami and thought I would communicate some of my thoughts to you. I am no authority, but please listen to what I have to say with an open mind. –I now have this sense that it is impossible to communicate anything that is essential by way of words –any words. Yours, mine or those of others. But I'll try anyway.

About contacting the divine: We ARE the divine. Consequently, no "contact" is at all possible. There's no distinction at all between appearance and essence. Some appearance/appearances are invisible to our ordinary senses, but these still are appearances and are still "at one with" essence. So the question is not: either appearances OR essence.

This also means that there is no mind that is not "connected to essence". Mind is Essence & Essence is Mind. There's no difference –they are not two things. They aren't even "one". No word can possibly express this. Silence is recommended.

This also means that there can be no method, much less one that can "work" ("guaranteed" or otherwise). I have stopped recommending books to people. No book will/can take you to where you want to be. You already ARE "there". Our problem is that we want to be somewhere else than where we think we are. -We don't even know where we are or what we are. The searching is the problem. Stop searching and there's no problem.

Les, there IS nothing but "Nature". There's no "place" to go to –we already are That. We are (what we see as) the dog poo on the pavement as well as the candle & the flame.

Like I said, silence is recommended. This is as close to a "method" that you'll ever get. I've already said too much. Thank you for hearing me out!”

For some reason I didn’t get the first letter so I wound up getting the first two at the same time and this was the second one-

“Dear Les,

You said: It requires repetition and focus but it works.

For what? Not for ultimate realization it doesn’t! -It may well have some mundane effect and in that sense it could be said to ”work”. But ultimate realization cannot be prepared for, there’s no way to it and there ARE no stages. This is not a ”perspective”. It’s FACT. Why do you keep talking about contacting the divine and sowing ever more confusion? Les, the divine cannot BE ”contacted”! If at all it were possible, the divine would contact you, not the other way around. Revelation springs to mind. However, true revelation is utterly unspeakable. We don’t know anything about it. -Round-and-round-and-round...You do want to help people get out from under their minds, don’t you? Then why do you do this, Les? What’s the use of these silly ”spriritual” games?

No doubt each perspective is a stage

Any ”perspective” would be an illusion, but neither dual nor non-dual is a ”stage”. (This would presuppose the existence of a person, but none such can be said to either exist or not exist.) –Dual/non-dual are just concepts and as such, just part of what is. Same goes for Christ and the Buddha. -Nor are they personal or impersonal. They are beyond that. (Jesus & Gauthama can be seen as ”personal” if we are so inclined.)

As far as what's ultimate and more real, all I can say is, I don't know.

Nor do I!! I cannot know. But I do believe that the ’I’ can, that the ’I’ IS knowledge. But then again, this is just a belief. When we know, we no longer need to believe. We know.

So... I sent back another explanation and I got this;

“Ok, Les, I'll send it again, hoping, now as yesterday, that my comment won't put you off in any way. My point of view is non-dual and the thoughts forwarded in your latest Origami are in the dual mode. –So the potential for misunderstandings are there...here goes:

Dear Les,

I read your latest Visible Origami and thought I would communicate some of my thoughts to you. I am no authority, but please listen to what I have to say with an open mind. –I now have this sense that it is impossible to communicate anything that is essential by way of words –any words. Yours, mine or those of others. But I'll try anyway.

About contacting the divine: We ARE the divine. Consequently, no "contact" is at all possible. There's no distinction at all between appearance and essence. Some appearance/appearances are invisible to our ordinary senses, but these still are appearances and are still "at one with" essence. So the question is not: either appearances OR essence.

This also means that there is no mind that is not "connected to essence". Mind is Essence & Essence is Mind. There's no difference –they are not two things. They aren't even "one". No word can possibly express this. Silence is recommended.

This also means that there can be no method, much less one that can "work" ("guaranteed" or otherwise). I have stopped recommending books to people. No book will/can take you to where you want to be. You already ARE "there". Our problem is that we want to be somewhere else than where we think we are. -We don't even know where we are or what we are. The searching is the problem. Stop searching and there's no problem.

Les, there IS nothing but "Nature". There's no "place" to go to –we already are That. We are (what we see as) the dog poo on the pavement as well as the candle & the flame.”

INSERT; I should say here that to this point this person was at pains to be polite in a formal way and I’ve only left these brief sentences out for the same reason I’ve left all of my responses out which is for the sake of brevity. The point of this is not to explore our back and forth communications but to get the readers take on what they think about what this person is saying to me. Is this person correct? Also, why would this person have reflexively reprinted everything that they received and which often contained very similar thoughts and also why would this person reprint anything from Smoking Mirrors (which was also posted as soon as received and never a negative word about any of it)? There’s a mystery here.

So it continues... I try to explain and then I get another letter.

“Thank you, Les, for your answer! I’m not sure we’re getting anywhere, however, so I guess this sequence is coming to a natural close. But let me just briefly say this:

the difference in perspective of a great many people who have achieved enlightenment by means 'other than' what you suggest is invalid.

I never implied this. There are as of this moment 6.6 billion perspectives But perspectives are based upon perceptions and perceptions are of the body, matter, ”this world”, whatever. But what we’re talking about here is BEYOND perception. So I’m not questioning the enlightenment of a great many people, as you say. Whatever people say, is part of THAT, part of WHAT IS. There’s nothing wrong with that. What I am saying (implying), what I’m driving at, is that there is NO CAUSAL LINK between people’s preparation and their enlightenment. We are UTTERLY helpless and there’s NOTHING WE can do, nothing whatever, to achieve / ”attain” enlightenment. To think that attainment is possible (”I” attained enlightenment), would be to presuppose the existence of a person. -Les, there ARE no persons. As for ”contacting” the divine, it simply is impossible for ”you” to do this. The divine ”contacts” you. -It either stays contained IN you, or it fills you completely, floods you utterly, fully and permanently and spills over into everything you think, see & do. If ”preparing oneself” has any meaning at all, it would not entail adding anything, but rather getting rid of something. But even then there’s no causal link. The divine is perfectly free and unscrutable and will not be prompted or goaded by the use of charms, formulas rituals or substances. -We are like I said utterly helpless and can only long for it, yearn or hope for it, while we continue our patient and compassionate work with our fellow beings, loving them, caring for them.

If you are unhappy with what I do then you shouldn't post it

I will not post the primer. I think you are well-intentioned but that you effectively are leading people ”astray” by what your saying in this primer (’astray’ is also part of ’what is’). -So I will not post it.

I'm in contact with something that is present and which over a long period of time has effectively guided me

I am in no position to comment upon this; I can only hope that it is a guidance that makes you feel blessed and loved and that it would make it ever more easy and natural for you to shower blessings and love on our fellow beings. You are holy, beautiful and worthy of being loved. -Unconditionally. As you are. WHATEVER that is. I hope you understand that by now. This is also what you would want to pass on to others, in fact, it is the ONLY thing you can pass on to the myriad beings. If a ”perspective” seems to help in this regard, then go with it. If not, drop it. I can’t think of more to say. All the best!”

And so, I replied, saying:

“It's not possible for me to comment about this with a person who is convinced they are right to the exclusion of all other input or viewpoints. I don't agree with what you are saying and neither do the masters whose work I respect.

My sites have the highest content of intelligent and spiritually aware people of anywhere I have seen on the internet and surely one of them would have said something before about my misleading them. I will make your communications to me the subject of my next posting so as to see what the readers think of your beliefs concerning me. Of course I will not mention any names or the like.

It appears you may have had some sort of an event in your mind that has done something to you because no one switches their positions so quickly, or you may have been threatened by someone concerning your publishing of my work. It's fine, I understand.

I am surprised to see such a totalitarian viewpoint in connection with spirituality and never suspected I would run into it with you. I wish you well and thank you for the time we interacted.

I'll be moving on.

Aloha and be well,”

So... I got this,

“Dear Les,

I am not a person. I am nothing in particular. All input is welcome. There should be no exclusion of anything. But all viewpoints are not of equal value. Some of them spring from confusion, others from clarity. I have not ”switched position” and I’m not aware of any ”event” in my mind, let’s say: recently. What I said to you comes from the deepest levels within me and was communicated to you with sincerity. There are no threats as far as I am aware of. None. I fully intend to continue posting your work, the Smoking Mirrors articles as well as the other ones. You are more than welcome, now as ever, to submit your work to me. I wish that you would continue doing so. Again, all the best!”

Well... I had decided in my last communication that I wasn’t going to send this person any more of my work and leave the situation be. I’ll explain about that at the end. So... then I got this,

Les,

I have noticed that you have posted a Smoking Mirrors article without sending word about it to me. -In view of the recent misunderstandings between us, I now wonder whether this was intentional on your part, or just more of the same technical (?) trouble that we’ve had lately. Please clarify.

So, I said this...

“I just thought I'd leave it be for the moment. My tendency is to back away from contention and conflict; unless I can't avoid it, such as in real life situations. It's not a reflection of any judgments on my part. I've always been inclined to do this. So... it's more of a normal reaction for me and shouldn't mean any more than that. It's reflex. I don't really want to go into it any deeper because I don't really know why anyway. It's just how I respond to certain things. I don't like having them on my mind because I probably don't understand them either.

You're free to repost anything you want, of course. And if it's that important then I'll send them along again.

Warm Regards,

visible”

And he replied;

“Well, Les, conflict (just like pain & fear) is a vital part of life and it’s difficult to see how we can grow and mature without it. I guess what’s important is how we deal with it, rather than avoiding it when it’s there. Resisting it, we are frozen in time and will not transcend it. Facing it, something good will come of it – we’ll remember who we truly are. We all struggle with this; I’m no better than the next guy.

By talking to you about leading people astray, I was trying to remind you of the great responsibility of teaching certain things to people, and implicitly of the dire karmic burden that will accrue when someone does this without being qualified to do it. In general terms, precious few are, and the safest option is to be silent and continue working on oneself.

Regarding ”contacting the divine”, you can be fairly sure that whatever you think you have gotten into contact with is not the divine. We human beings have an enormous potential for fooling ourselves and for settling for the lesser instead of aiming for the Highest, Which is completely beyond experiences, appearances and perceptions. The Masters have done their homework. Now it’s up to you, me & the rest of us to do this too. Devotion to any master will not save us. Nobody can save us. We have to go deep and be very, very serious. Substances, ”powers”, ”experiences”, fireworks & flashes are just childish games that most certainly will hold us back. I too have been dawdling & delaying on my way home and I am ashamed of myself because of all the precious time I’ve wasted. -Like I said, I’m no better than the next guy.

Let’s join, Les, in going deeper and being ever more serious and committed to the way home, gathering in the flock as we do so.”

And this person adds as a postscript that my work will be now turned over to someone else to post as he sees fit.

I’d already begun to feel that this person was being extremely presumptuous because this person doesn’t know me at all, except through my writings and, if he had been paying attention while reading them, then this person would have seen that I present things from a variety of perspectives to engage the reader in thought, to provoke response and possibly self-inquiry. Apparently, I’m not qualified for this and apparently I’ve never had any contact with God. I won’t analyze this but leave it to the reader to speculate on.

So... I basically told this person that I thought they were wrong and presumptuous and various things but I was growing exceedingly weary of the whole exchange. I’m not into endless dialectic and mind numbing exchanges about nuance and the like. I just state my piece and people can take it or leave it.

So... I got this...

“Les,

We are at the ”end of the road”. This is the last time you’ll hear from me. -Reading through your last answer, I wasn’t sure I even wanted to answer you. However, what I’ll say next is an effort to remind you of the kernel of sanity that still is in you so that you could get out of the insidious current of delusion that is holding you back. This will likely be in vain and the effort may be wasted on you.

When I said ”You are holy, beautiful and worthy of being loved. -Unconditionally.”, I wasn’t referring to the Pied Piper of Hamelin (that is your present, self-chosen identity & function), but to something else, of which you obviously are entirely unaware of. ”You” are severely deluded. You need to do something about this.

”You” said to me: ”you are the 'only' person out of thousands with whom I have communicated concerning the specific subject under discussion who has taken this position so I will go with the majority view on what I do.” –I may also be the only person ”out of thousands” who has told you that ”You are holy, beautiful and worthy of being loved. -Unconditionally.” Please remember this.”

Mercifully, this seems to be the end of it. As you can see, this is already going on for a long time here and I spared you my responses because they were pretty much along the lines of what you’ve read here for years. Otherwise we would be at about double the length of the whole affair.

Addendum;

For the last week I’ve been having a series of events that sort of funhouse mirror this. Yesterday I got a letter from another source who reposts my work at a very busy site; much busier than the one under discussion. He said, “I love it!” meaning the latest Smoking Mirrors... “but, I have serious problems with the no plane hitting the building.”

I’m thinking, “What?” because I didn’t say that and wouldn’t so I wrote back to clarify and got the reply that this person had misread what I’d said and he was sorry about that, he’d just gotten up etc.

Also I’ve gotten a couple of letters from readers saying that I shouldn’t be talking about certain things because they don’t exist... the implication was that only what we see and hear is real and this was in relation to my latest radio show. The problem here was that the person said that I said and mentioned things that weren’t. I wrote back to inform the person of this and then heard back that it was true that I hadn’t sent these things but that he was embellishing because I might have well been saying this or that because all these things are grouped together anyway... weird.

I’m thinking a particular planet came into conjunction or opposition with another and in my case the result was a flare-up of confusion about what I do which in all cases I wasn’t doing anyway. I’m not doing anything differently than I ever have. Also people are confusing one blog with another and not realizing that they are separate presentations.

Well... I’ll just go on as I always have. It makes no difference to me if someone reprints my work or not... but it is ‘my work’ not theirs and they don’t pay me and I didn’t solicit their attention... they came to me.

Why have I gone to the trouble of presenting this here today? It gives you the opportunity to let me know if you think I’ve been leading you astray, even as it begs the question of why you are coming along then? (grin)

I’ve said it so many ways but it isn’t always clear to everyone. I am doing this according to intuitional provocation. What I say comes out of it and I’m not inclined to argue about it or defend it. It gets said and the reader can take it or leave it. That’s that, that’s it. It’s free as well. Finally... I’m not leading anyone anywhere and I’ve been at pains to discourage those who are looking for someone to manage their life for them. I’ve had to do this at regular points over time and I always will.

In any case... this may prove entertaining or laborious (I apologize if it is the latter) but it should spark some interesting replies.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

In our last chapter we were talking about Practical Magic; things that you can do to improve your life and improve your fortunes. Of course, talking about these things does no good at all and that is what people mostly do. They talk about things. One of the problems with practical demonstration is the tendency to complicate the issue. This goes at cross purposes to success because the force you need to communicate with is like a child. I am referring to your subconscious.

Your subconscious deals in pictures... images. If you can successfully communicate the image to your subconscious then it will produce it into your world. You can think of it like talking to a pet. Some pets are well trained and some are not. The same can be said of children. I say this because in the initial stages you have to realize that it can take a lot more concentration and repetition than might later be required. At the same time you don’t want to overdo it. The subconscious is also very much like rich fertile earth. It is the most fertile earth that there is and so... once you have planted the seed you don’t want to over water it and wind up drowning it. You also don’t want to give it too much sunlight after it breaks to the surface into the conscious realm.

The mind has three levels; the superconscious in the attic, the self conscious on the main floor and the subconscious in the basement. Ideally you do no more than channel from the attic to the basement. Then you don’t have to get involved in what you think you want since you don’t really know anyway and you can count on getting exactly what you need because the superconscious knows all about it and knows what you require before you even ask. However... we’re not at that level of trust and surrender so... the smart thing is to have the intelligence to ask for the right things because everything else of benefit comes along with them anyway. You’ve heard the phrase, “seek ye first the kingdom of Heaven and all of these things will be added unto you.” That’s very accurate and true.

Some people get agitated by the use of words like, ‘magic’ and ‘occult’ and other terms that indicate that one might be looking to do business with the devil. I should point out that you are doing that all the time anyway no matter what you think. Everyone is already practicing magic but, for the most part, they are doing it badly or ineffectively. There is no devil anyway, besides the part of you that engages in self-interest or which seeks gain at the expense of others. It’s true that the collective energies of billions of people in pursuit of their own interests can create a central figure of fear by all the contributions they drop in the collection plate every time they think or feel or speak or act on their own behalf to the detriment of others... but it has only the power over you that you give it and it is only concealing the presence of an angel.

This may not come as much comfort to those who have scared the shit out of themselves by believing in false appearances until they look as real as real can be. People get weaned off their mothers, or they don’t. It works well for them or it leaves them with lasting conflicts and complications which they carry around with them and visit on others. Generations transfer bad habits and other undesirable aspects from parent to child and so... bad magic gains the appearance of good magic because, “That’s how we do it around here.”

There’s a great book called “The Science of Mind.” By Ernest Holmes which will literally transform the lives of any and all who are willing to be influenced by what it has to say. It does have a Christian aspect to it but it doesn’t require you to be one to take advantage of it. Holmes demonstrated the truth of what he taught. These things work so... why would we not want to avail ourselves of something that can make our lives so much easier and fulfilling? That’s the sixty four thousand dollar question.

The world of philosophical, scientific and metaphysical inquiry is rife with people who talk in a language so complicated that no one knows what they are talking about except for a very few others who are too busy being confusing themselves. They benefit no one, not even themselves. All of their mental gymnastics are for the sole purpose of making them look smarter than other people and seldom contains anything of practical use. It’s understood that certain sciences would be complex because of the nature of the technology and these thing can benefit others even if they don’t understand them but as for those areas that deal with the technology of being... it’s a simple affair and if someone is complicating it then there’s usually a venal reason involved or a personality dysfunction that intends to draw attention to them as some oracle or font of wisdom which this practice proves they do not possess.

I didn’t have to read too many intellectuals before I discovered that it didn’t matter what they were saying if there was no simple practice that could be realized from it. It didn’t matter what they were talking about if you couldn’t use it to improve your life. Jesus Christ; Buddha and Lao Tzu all spoke a simple language. Ernest Holmes and others like him spoke a simple language and what they said and taught can be used at any time by the simplest among us.

There are three basic areas of the mind and it is all one mind. We differentiate these areas but they are all one thing which operates in three different ways and this mind we call our own is actually just the point at which we contact the one mind that is the only mind everywhere and anywhere you go. Your subconscious is just the point where you touch the collective subconscious. It’s the same with the self-conscious and superconscious as well. It could be said that there is only one real self. What all the rest of us are... these are temporary unreal versions of it. Proper communication between these three aspects of the mind can achieve anything the mind can imagine. It goes without saying that it can surely manufacture everything you see because it already has or you wouldn’t see it. It all came out of mind. Everything is thought born. Physicists have proven this yet... the general population doesn’t seem to make the connection and that is why they are canon fodder and serfs for psychopaths. Stop playing their game.

As I said in Chapter One; find a place in Nature that you can visit once in the day time and once in the night. Stand in the same place each time. I’m going to give you something to say but you can adjust this to any personal request you might have. Stand still and let the mood come upon you. Then look to Heaven and say, “Lord of the Heavens grant me your ear. Please hear my request. Open before me the secret Heart of Nature and let her hear me when I speak. Divine mother, I ask you to bring forth from your substance the properties of my Self Realization. Grant me Wisdom and Understanding. Replace my shortcoming with the qualities of God. Grant me access to those realms where I might receive the instructions that will transform my life. Grant me your protection and open the portal of my intuition that I might hear you at all times when the need is present. Inspire me. Give to me the wonder and the awe of your presence. Thank you for hearing me and granting my request as it has been asked but according to your finer understanding of my needs. Fill me with gratitude. Thank you.”

I have given you something similar to what I say but have not included certain things that might not apply to everyone and which might in fact be dangerous for some. You can change the words to anything you wish. You must remember that you are in the actual presence of the divine when you do this. No fooling, it is so. Realize this and speak with certitude and focus your attention while speaking FROM your heart. Do it each day and each night at as close to the same time as you can manage but do it even if you miss by hours. You will find as you continue that something happens and you will see after a time that someone is listening.

Finally, let me say that even if there were no God and no divine feminine principle of Nature this would still work because it is your mind that you are treating with. This is the same mind that has brought forth everything you see... everything. Science- empirical science has already proven this. However, there most certainly is the mind of God and the divine feminine agency which is the portal through which everything appears. And in conclusion let me say again that everyone is already doing some version of this and the results are clear to see in any life you observe.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

A reader and I have been exchanging emails about contacting the divine and what is required to facilitate and expedite that. It put me in mind of some things that also tie in with questions people have asked me in the past. It ties in also with whether you should arm yourself against the coming madness. It reminds me of all the things that pass through people’s minds in relation to ‘appearances’. It’s important to remember that you are always dealing with either appearances or essence. Essence is in full command of all appearances. Any mind that is not connected to essence is at the seeming mercy of appearances because, everything you experience and how you experience it is connected to what you believe to be true.

So... I’m going to present a few things which are one hundred percent guaranteed to work and I’m going to attempt to explain why things don’t work or why they work differently than one’s intent. I’m going to do it in the same amount of words I have chosen as my template for these things and I’m going to close one eye and pat my head while I do it. I don’t chew gum so I had to come up with an alternative.

Some people who come here have some idea of what goes on at invisible levels. If you’ve heard the phrase, “as above so below” then you too now have an idea of what goes on at invisible levels if you didn’t before. We’ll be mentioning catch phrases and we’ll get cute with it because, sometimes that works and given the amount of smart asses who come and go around here it might even be helpful.

It’s been said, “All magic is in the will.” That’s true but... whose will? The point is that there is only one so it comes down to channeling doesn’t it? And that implies concentration which is intensifying the focus and maintaining it. At this point I suggest you get a copy of Alice Bailey’s two volume work on Pantanjali’s Yoga Aphorisms. I’ll just wait until you order, receive and read the set and then we’ll continue. Okay... that didn’t take too long. This book explains the whole deal from the yogic perspective. You can find the same thing with different analogies; different terms and often a lot of mysterious veils in the Western Tradition if you need it explained that way. I’ll just wait here until you acquire all of those books and read them.

Okay, let’s get on with it. You will not be able to practice any of this unless you are seriously committed. Sure... you might get some results here and there but your mind will know how you feel about it and how sincere and dedicated you are and it’s your mind that you have to convince... nothing else, just ‘your’ mind. All those magic circles and symbols, routines and rituals, magic wands and sigils and so on and so forth are all about convincing your mind. It’s a way of playing dress-up so that your mind can slip into the role; so that your mind believes you are serious about the role.

I don’t feel like explaining anything right now. I’m tired of explaining things. I can tell you that I have a very good idea of how things work but I don’t really care. When I finally got included in certain eternal understandings, I didn’t really care what I could do with them anymore. Part of what happened to me was that the desire for most of the things that everyone wants got sucked right out of me along with certain human elements that have made it impossible for me to get into things the way people tend to do. I just don’t care.

Of course, I care a great deal but I just don’t care and it doesn’t matter any more even though it matters a great deal. It’s all sex by the way but I’m not going to treat with that this go round except to say that terrestrial sex doesn’t hold a candle to intercourse with the divine and it will ruin you for the things everyone feels like they can’t live without. "But how do you get there Dr. Visible?" Well... everything costs something and you can’t have one thing unless you are willing to lose another. That’s why most people can’t and won’t get where they think they want to go. They don’t really want to go there. Although they meet the Dweller on the Threshold anyway (over and over again) at a certain point in the endless rotation of the wheel of fire they are a tad squeamish about conscious confrontation.

Many people might think themselves brave and toy with the idea of going into the graveyard to meet with Smashin Tara but very few are going to take acid and actually go there, although some of us have. Very few people are willing to risk and endure madness but some of us have. Believe me... living these mundane lives is a greater Hell; in my opinion. But you don’t have to do that to profit from what I’m going to tell you and if you practice what I put here today and you do it religiously according to ‘any’ timeline or degree of routine that you may choose, you will have results. The key is... there has to be some consistency. You cannot expect a seed to become a plant unless you attend to it; not the seed I am talking about anyway.

So... let me go to the nitty gritty and then you are on your own; Oh yeah... this isn’t going to put you up against those big bellied Tibetan demons or Jinn’s in a whirlwind. This is just going to make it possible for you to achieve practical results in your life in relation to things and circumstances you may desire and you should make sure that you desire them because desire is the agent of God’s will.

I’ve been analyzing this while I was writing it and I have distilled it down to one thing you can do and it will cover every need and exigency. This is a guide ...now, as I said, you ‘can’ do it any number of ways as long as it is consistent.

Go to a place where you face Nature exclusively so that the range of sight takes in only Nature. It doesn’t matter if there are houses somewhere beyond; no matter where you are or where you face, that will be the case. First, ask for the ear of Heaven and the blessings of Heaven on your quest. Next, address the secret heart of Nature in what is before you and express your request calmly but with an intensity of passion and focus. Do this when the sun is in the sky and do it also when night has completely fallen and do it in the same spot. Do it without fail every day and, were I you, do it for as long as you are here.

You will find that your ability to express your desire and the desire itself will improve and modify with time. It’s to be expected that you eventually get around to asking for the only thing worth having but there’s nothing wrong with some practical demonstration on the way. I can hear someone saying right now. “What’s the only thing worth having?” If you don’t know I’m not going to tell you.

Alternatively... if you want to fast-track this and you think you’ve got a take no prisoners mindset you can start by taking a day a week when you don’t eat and you put your whole attention upon winning the attention of what is paying attention to you ALL THE TIME.

Yes... you should approach these times with some ceremony and reverence and you should, by all means, be humble yet demanding... remember... you are the child. It is unlikely you will be given a stone... unless that would be a particular stone of which some of us are aware.

This is a good start and if you can’t manage this you certainly do not deserve more. However, if you can manage this you WILL get results. Be clear on what you ask for and be certain you want it. The agency you are asking knows very well what is hidden in your heart. Do not deceive. There is nothing to fear and everything to gain.

Now, I’m going to stop patting my head because it has become very annoying. I forget what the other thing was that I was going to be doing but it doesn’t matter anyway.

Friday, November 14, 2008

What I am about to say has been said before. Anything that can be said has been said before... ignored before and understood before. One thing that confuses a great many people is; how do you approach that which is everywhere and everything, is both the creator and the product, is you and everything that surrounds you and which creates, sustains and destroys every temporary thing while remaining unchanged itself?

Every religious text concerns itself with this. You’ve got more guidelines; rules of conduct, points of focus and forms of worship than you could possibly use and the more you tried, the more confusing it would become. Scholars immerse themselves in information their whole lives and wind up knowing less than they did when they began. The chaos and confusion in the ever changing world, with its myriad attractions and electro-magnetic impact on the senses and then upon the mind, makes for a real circus.

What to do... what to do if you really do want to achieve self-realization. Let’s take self-realization as the catch-all term for however anyone and everyone define that state which is union with the all pervasive unknowable. Let’s assume that following a religion can eventually take you to a point of better understanding. Let’s also assume that following a religion can also take you into a greater darkness. We have ample proof of this by looking at what history shows us. I do not need to elaborate here. I do not mean to diminish religion and what may or may not be possible. I take it for granted that many hearts have found succor there.

What is written here is not intended as a criticism of religion or a replacement. It’s another way up a common mountain. It’s a direct route and therefore it requires more intensity and focus. It requires unrelenting energy and enthusiasm. It requires certitude. I need to talk about the mountain first and then I need to talk about how one learns to play a musical instrument or how one masters any discipline and whether they do so or they don’t and why either case might prevail.

First, the mountain; let’s think of a snow-capped mountain and imagine that when the snow melts and flows down the mountain that the water is the cause of all the riot of color in the valley below. Let us assume that the water is more pure the closer it is to the source. Let us assume that there are a number of ways up the mountain and that some will take longer than others and that those which take longer are more easily traveled. Let’s also assume that once achieving the top of this particular mountain that you can see all of the ways down.

It’s a given that the higher you ascend on the mountain, the stronger the winds become and the rougher the terrain. I can’t say whether or not the path is easier in the beginning due to the number of feet which have prepared the ground before (coming and going) or whether the increasing difficulty to the terrain further up is due to less traffic. Let’s assume that may have something to do with it. Let’s also assume that this is a metaphorical mountain that exists within your mind and that the real mountain is Life and the conditions it presents.

Let’s consider learning a musical instrument or mastering any particular discipline and let’s assume that the more you practice the quicker you learn. Why is it that some will be more inclined to practice and some less so? It must have something to do with enthusiasm and something to do with the ability to see the end result. It’s obvious that if you love what you are doing you will be more inclined to keep doing it. Still... there has to be some objective in mind. With an instrument or a discipline it’s not so difficult to do this because it is there in front of you. It’s not as easy to imagine what you will find on the top of the mountain under discussion or what you will do when you get there. This is the sort of thing that sends so many climbers back to the valley and into the land of the familiar.

It seems to me that some people have more assurance than others about what is unknown. It is difficult to find the words to treat with this. Is it faith? Is it some faint remembering? Is it some resonance between the seeker and that which calls? Does it matter?

I have looked at this matter in a great many ways and I have been deceived and victimized in my efforts at continuing and understanding... by myself and by the external world. I’ve looked at the scriptures and the costumes. I’ve looked at the rituals and routines. I’ve looked at the fundamental and the mystical aspects. I’ve looked at the world and what it gives and takes and I’ve looked at the promise of doorways out of the world by those who profess to know their location. From everything that I have studied, I have come to a particular conclusion about a particular process whose requirements do not demand any special understanding of complex mathematics or intricate magical or mystical systems.

I suppose at this point you’ll either have to take what I say on faith or move on to something that strikes your fancy more, like another instrument or another way up the mountain or something you forgot back in the valley below. Here is a way up the mountain and you cannot fail if you are persistent and if the objective holds more appeal than the options otherwise which, will certainly be presented for your consideration as you go. If you apply what I am about to outline you will succeed no less than anyone ever has.

There is a book by one Brother Lawrence which is called “The Practice of the Presence of God”. In Russia there was a technique given where one ‘prays without ceasing’. This could be likened to those who chant continuously. There are other books with similar intent such as “The Impersonal Life” and other mindsets which employ similar means. You might find it more to your liking there than here. In any case let us begin.

You are here in this moment reading these words. What ever you will do, can only be accomplished from here and no matter what you do, you will always be doing it now. You will not be doing it in the past and it would be best to let the past go altogether right now. You will not arrive at the future. You will only ever be here. So it is in the ‘here’ that everything will occur.

No matter who you are you will engage in common, repetitive experiences. You will eat and sleep. You will excrete. You will engage in sex of some kind regardless of whether you think you never had sex at all. You will think and feel. You will be employed at something. You can look around you and see what things are common to us all. You will seem to be here and then you will seem not to be here. You will seem to age. You will seem to be ill and you will seem to be well. Conditions may vary according to the individual and according to one’s perception of oneself as an individual to begin with.

Here is what you do. Whatever you are doing, you accept it as a divine process. When you eat; when you go to the bathroom, when you engage in sex, when you work, when you think or feel, you remind yourself that it is divine. You remind yourself that you are already at one; you are already at the top of the mountain. You are already where you wish to be.

How you go about this is a personal affair. I have the tendency to say, “I love you.” over and over and over. The idea is to be able to consciously imagine and to see the divine performing all of the acts you think you are performing when in fact you are doing nothing. The only thing that ‘you’ have ever done is to interfere. You can either oppose the symmetry of the universe or you can cooperate. There is no other alternative. This is all there is to free will. So... what you do is, you spiritualize the ordinary and mundane. When you eat you are eating with God and eating God and are engaged in the presence of God performing the operation and that extends to everything you do... all day and all night long, forever and ever in this moment, which is the only moment you will ever inhabit.

As you continue with this... constantly pulling your mind back to an awareness of this, you will find that the mysterious kingdom begins to materialize within and around you. Spiritualize everything you do. Live this moment in the constant awareness that the divine is living your life in you. Do not concern yourself with analyzing it... experience it. When you eat, you understand that the divine is becoming more and more a part of you. When you excrete you are letting go of what is not really you. You are constantly gaining and ridding yourself in this moment and the only reason you do not progress is because you keep adding your personal version back again. Let go of it. Be careful of what you think in everything you do because that defines what it becomes.

You can’t go to church or read a book or pray before you go to sleep and expect that you will wake up and be able to play the piano that you are attempting to carry up the mountain under your own power. You will become discouraged and you will not make it up the mountain, nor will you be able to play the piano when you are carrying it on your back. If you are not living in the divine in everything you do then you are somewhere else doing something else as someone else.

I’m going on longer than I usually do here but what difference does it make? The moment goes on forever. Get used to it. Associate with temporary things and you will find that everything is temporary. Associate with a mortal mindset and you will find that you are mortal. It’s easy to do because the entire world is engaged in it. You will seem to be crazy but then again, why should anyone notice what you are doing? It’s an invisible thing, unless you think you have to call attention to it. Act as if God is doing everything you think you are doing and you are going to get a big surprise.

The universe is entirely spiritual. You are entirely spiritual. Thinking makes it so. You will quickly see what opposes your efforts to accomplish this if you set about it whole-heartedly. All of the power of the universe is at your disposal. You are the Crown of Creation. Act like it. This will of course require great humility and a continuous sense of awe and you can only get that by being in a state of continuous surrender to that which is eternally in action and eternally still and which ‘thought’ you into being.

It’s here right now. It’s not in the future somewhere. What happens is that the moment begins to expand until it encompasses everything. You will find that you are living in every heart. You will find empathy for every living thing. You will find God. You will not find it in a church when you are the adytum. You will not find it in a book or anywhere, when he is everywhere. You will find it in the practice of it and by living it; not later on this evening and not tomorrow at some specific location. It is a state of mind. It is a state of being and you are so close to it right now. It is holding you in place. It is reading these words with you. It is right there with you. Take it on faith, for it is truly said that, “Faith is the substance of things unseen.” Carry on.

Visible sings: ♫ God's Not Dead ♫'God's Not Dead' is track no. 3 of 11 on Visible's 2001 album 'God in Country'Lyrics(pops up)

Saturday, November 08, 2008

I’d like to talk about a curious thing today and something that, if properly understood and practiced, will lead to certain definite results over time and nothing can or will hinder it either. Imagine that you are in a large public library in a large city. Imagine you are in a large university library or in the Library of Congress or the library at The Vatican. Imagine that you are surrounded by all of these books of which you will never read more than a small portion in your lifetime even if all you do is read.

Imagine that there is a library in your head which is larger than any library on Earth and that these books are a part of what you are. Imagine all of the spiritual texts and scriptures of which you could never read more than a small part of even one religion. Sure, you could read the major texts and some will tell you that is all you need. I won’t debate this. Imagine that the actual and original flame alphabet of the original, unaltered scriptures are written on your heart. There is a secret chamber in the heart where this happens to be true. Is it your heart or the place where you touch the universal heart? It doesn’t matter. What matters is that it is.

Computers are based on the operations of the brain. In fact, all technology is based on the human body. Consider the female outlet and the male plug that allows the transference of energy that makes all of the machines work. Imagine that the sex force is the only force that exists in human interaction and that it is either coarsely expressed in the basement or upwardly refined until it becomes speech and art moving through religion until it touches God which is your essential nature. Imagine that the soul is the bride and lover of this essential self. Imagine that ultimately you make love to yourself and that the offspring of that union is eternal life and all pervading consciousness. Imagine that the process that brings this entire evolution through circumstance and time is all accomplished by the real you that unified the separated you that was separated and put into interactive compartments for the purpose of experience whose intent is realization. Imagine that this is why it is important to love yourself.

Imagine then that you operate in the wider world so that, over lifetimes, you acquire all of the experience necessary to come to the point where the door into a much larger world opens within. Imagine that all of the power that you witness external to yourself is only a small expression, along a limited bandwidth, of the power within you which sets the stars and planets in their courses, which slings everything inward outward and which never manifests but a portion of the power that remains unmanifest.

Imagine that the purpose of the world which is perceived by the senses is to deceive the mind which interprets the reports of the senses. Imagine that the world is only a garment that conceals the real world. Imagine that all of the heartbreak and pain in the manifest world has but one purpose and that is to disenchant you with the world that deceives you. Imagine that everyone you ever meet, everyone you are attracted or repelled by is another facet of yourself. Imagine that every person, regardless of their position, is an archetype which expresses a particular presentation of the indefinable for the purpose of demonstration to everyone who, for the most part, never sees it.

Imagine that everything you believe about yourself is something you imagined and none of it is real and yet you live out a lifetime based on beliefs that are constantly altered due to circumstances set up for just this purpose so that eventually you find that nothing you believed was true but was mere projection based on a limited perception of that which cannot be grasped or defined.

Imagine that all of the suffering and the wars are no more than an eternal interplay between shadow and light which makes a world in which such things take place possible and that it is to the degree that you are in the shadow or in the light that you suffer or are a part of the suffering and wars and all that takes place.

Imagine that the idea of evil and evil itself is no more than something you do not understand and have not yet learned how to make use of constructively. Imagine that lightning is a good example of this as are floods and all manner of forces that seem to work against you because you operate in a way that is not in harmony with your essential nature. Imagine that no wild beast or any other seemingly inimical thing could harm you if you were in your essential nature but would otherwise rest quietly beside you or serve you and we have already many example of this.

Imagine that all of the fundamentalist mindsets, the Zionists, the bankers; all of those whose mindset and bandwidth allow only for a material understanding of the greater realm, of which this is only one of the sub-basements, actually have no power over you but what you give them and that anyone who is tormented or enslaved by these elements has voluntarily given them the power to do it.

Imagine, as has been said, “Greater is that which is within you than that which is in the world.” Imagine, as has been said, “There is a man who is so sure of his inward course that no wild beast can harm him, no danger can approach him... and why? Because he has no death to die.” Imagine that the truth of everything you have read which is true is a proven fact within you already and that no book, no teaching, no guru and no energy or entity can possibly confer on you a greater understanding than you already posses but are unaware of. Imagine that it is not learning you require but remembrance.

Imagine and visualize that you are the world in which you live and it is your perception of it that defines the reality you encounter. Imagine that you have only to unlearn or to forget the lies you have told yourself in order to be free of the conditions in which you have placed yourself. Imagine that you are the source and the accomplishment of everything you seek. Imagine that everyone you encounter is you and act accordingly.

Imagine that there are no accidents and that everything always has been and always will be under control and that you can enjoy the confidence of that reality simply by making it real by constantly practicing the presence of it. Imagine that you can go deeper and deeper as you go and that you will never know how deep it is.

Remember that the further you proceed into matter the more dense it becomes and the more confined you are and the more the heat increases. Conversely, the more you proceed out of material attraction, the freer you are, the wider the spaces and the cooler the fire that warms you to the core.

As true as any of this may be you can never communicate it to anyone not disposed to receive it. This is why, although you see suffering everywhere you go you can do nothing about it except to live as an example of the alternative. You cannot change things for another no matter how desperately you may wish or try. They can only change according to what their understanding allows and it is only example that shows the way. It is only trauma and loss that makes ready the ground.

Imagine that this is true for you, that infinite possibility awaits and imagine that you are open for that and become ready for the only meaningful pursuit you will ever discover. Bon voyage.

Monday, November 03, 2008

Life’s like the ocean in a way. The tides bring things in and the tides take things out. There’s a lot more going on below the surface than above the surface. Sometimes it’s stormy and wave-tossed and sometimes it’s calmer but it is never still. You could say that the mind is like the ocean; all those thought fishes swimming in and out. You could say your life is like your mind and reflects the state of it.

The reason I bring this up is because of trends that I see coming in on the tides of life. The trends of the moment aren’t different, essentially from the trends of any time. They’re all made out of the same thing; the same thing that you and I and the Earth and the sky are made out of. The thing that I notice the most about trends and conditions is that they always involve conflict. It could be the simple conflicts of fashion and color; the clash of styles, cultures and climates that always create new weather when they meet. It might be the darker conflicts of stressed economies and war. Wherever people are more concentrated, the conflicts are more dramatic simply from the press of so many individuals with different perspectives and attitudes; different needs, different levels of awareness, different agendas and moral codes.

The conflicts within us have some relationship to the conflicts outside of us. We look at it as something that is explained to us by others or as something we explain to ourselves. These days there is a lot less introspection and a great deal more of getting our world view from larger mediums of information. Since these larger mediums have a significant investment in getting groups of people to believe their version of events and conditions it can be readily assumed that conflicts and conditions are often created for the profit of those creating them.

Our physical bodies are composed of four elements that are at war with one another. There are more subtle elements as well. It shouldn’t take any great leap of thought to see where the actions of the elements of our bodies would affect the state of our minds. Looking at the commercial world, the marketplace, we can see how certain agendas, with an eye for their own profit, work upon the human mind and body in order to motivate them toward an interest in whatever they are selling. It stands to reason that those doing this want to provide the least amount of product for the greatest possible price at the smallest amount of expense. This is a trend we have seen at work for some time as convenience and immediacy win out over craftsmanship and durability. It stands to reason that the longer something functions and lasts, the longer is the time period before you need a replacement.

Over the centuries we have been given a lot of explanations for why the world is the way it is. Many people discount the possibility of a divine being because of things that have happened here. They don’t see how God could allow such things so therefore there must be no God. They’ve also seen how religion has been compromised as just one more commercial enterprise which adds to the idea that there couldn’t be any kind of a God described by the religions who would allow his temporal institutions to be used in such a manner. A study of the life and thought of Martin Luther brings up some interesting considerations.

People who read at this blog, or any of my blogs, know that I like to ramble around through the scenery before I get to my point. Sometimes the point doesn’t appear at all because it’s meant to appear in the mind of the reader and not on the page. I look at the personal mind as a room filled with furniture. Sometimes when you rearrange the furniture and make the room look and feel different there is a possibility that the mind itself can be glimpsed for a moment. Regardless of what many people might think, it’s not as easy to see our minds at we think it is.

Another telling point is that there really isn’t a personal mind in the way we generally understand it and that our biggest problem and the source of all of our personal conflicts is our perception of our minds as something personal. There’s only one mind and our idea of a personal mind is just the point at which we make contact with it. You could think of yourself as a small inlet into which an unfathomable sea flows in and out. Things wash up on our little shore and wash out again too. The impact of the greater sea upon the inlet constantly changes the shape and landscape of the shore so that we are never what we thought we were. This is why introspection and a constant effort to see deeper into the nature of ourselves will eventually lead to an understanding that we are nothing like what we think we are. We are much greater and much smaller than our present perceptions of ourselves which are quite often nothing more than an arrangement of furniture or an amalgam of trends and conditions that came in from the sea until they washed out again.

When you look at any period of time you can see a pervasive similarity in the lives of the people. At the same time you can see marked differences between cultures and countries but that the totality of it all is the image of the day in which they live. No matter what time you choose there is always an identifiable atmosphere of the time in which they lived... like there is now. No matter how many generations come and go. No matter how many lessons are played out on the surface of life... people don’t change all that much. They are still selfish and brutal and behave like malicious children.

Across the surface of the Earth there are ruins beneath the surface and ruins beneath those. The earth beneath the deepest ruins is composed of former ruins that are now just dirt. What does that tell you? It should tell you something about life and the permanence of human industry and all of the things that were made or will be made. The inside of your mind is not dissimilar to this. There are also things forgotten that are buried beneath things forgotten... lifetimes... and deeper still. Few are they who dive into these depths.

The world is a gigantic flashing billboard of products; possibilities, events and coming attractions like movie trailers and its sole job is to distract you from this deep diving. That is the purpose of the world. It is a smorgasbord of food and drink and sexual opportunity. It is the promise of riches and power and fame for the few after which so many hunger and spend their lives in the pursuit of which they will not attain. People don’t get it. It abuses them. It confuses and breaks them and uses them for sport and even consumes them but they line up at the door every day. They get sent on the conveyor belt to the shadow realm where the moon weaves them another body and then they bang on the door to be let in so they can do it all over again. That’s how it goes and it goes and goes and goes... round and round on a wheel of fire inside the belly of Ganesha.

You can’t talk about these things with most people. Men in cassocks and suits with bad hair can talk to them. Men in robes and wearing funny hats can talk to them about punishment and reward but you can’t talk to them about living realities or the deep and luminous places in the mind. There is something in the common mind that does not want to know. It wants to understand other worlds as if it were the same world they were contemplating it in.

You cannot tell them that the flames of desire are the same as the fires of Hell or that the world is a carnival of mirrors in a funhouse where it’s not always fun. You can’t tell them that Love is the purification of desire and an altogether different fire or about thousands of curious things that are all around them and which they cannot see and do not wish to see. You can share what you have as what it is but you cannot share it as something else.

All of this is why I consider mediation and contemplation, self-inquiry and compassion to be of infinitely more value than anything the world will ever provide. People will nod their heads over this and then go right back to what they were doing. This is a mystery that conceals a powerful treasure and there it sits. There is sits, right in the middle of the darkness that conceals it.

Visible sings: ♫ Love is Bound ♫'Love is Bound' is track no. 12 of 12 on Visible's 2007 album 'Almost A Capella'Lyrics(pops up)